Has Bill O’Reilly gone moderate?

Daily Show host Jon Stewart appeared on The O’Reilly Factor in February.

In a no-frills studio in Fox News’ Manhattan headquarters, Bill O’Reilly was wrangling with a guest, as usual.

This time it wasn’t a liberal foe but conservative strategist Dick Morris, who was hammering the Justice Department for hiring a group of lawyers — dubbed the “al-Qaida Seven” by the right-wing advocacy group Keep America Safe — that had represented terrorism suspects in private practice.

But O’Reilly didn’t buy Morris’ argument that the lawyers’ past work made them a security risk. “You shouldn’t be demonized because you take on an unpopular client,” he countered.

The top-rated cable talk-show host has always been a contrarian, a self-described culture warrior who touts traditionalism while also favoring gay adoption and some gun-control measures. But in recent months, as the country’s political discourse has curdled, O’Reilly’s independent streak has become even more pronounced — particularly in contrast to Fox News’ newest star, Glenn Beck, who has rallied both passionate fans and detractors with his apocalyptic rhetoric about the Obama administration.

O’Reilly urged a national conference of conservatives to refrain from personal attacks on President Obama. He noted that employing fear in politics is a “double-edged sword” that “can lead to violence and heartbreak.” And he declared that he did not believe the president was a socialist, drawing mockery from radio host Rush Limbaugh. “Name-calling gets us nowhere,” O’Reilly replied mildly.

He still digs into his favorite targets with relish, particularly the “far-left media” and Hollywood celebrities. But lately, O’Reilly’s tenor has been remarkably measured.

“You’ve become in some ways the voice of sanity here, which as I said, is like being the thinnest kid at fat camp,” comedian Jon Stewart quipped during an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor last month.

Sitting in his 17th-floor corner office on a recent afternoon, O’Reilly maintained that he hasn’t changed. “If you’re coming to me to hear the choir, then you’ve got to be a relatively new viewer, because we’ve been pretty independent for a long period of time,” said the 60-year-old host, thumbing through manila folders holding research for that evening’s show.

O’Reilly has long cultivated his outsider status, bristling at being labeled a conservative or a Republican mouthpiece. So it’s not surprising that at a time when commentators on the political right have sharpened their attacks on Obama, he has sought a different tack: criticizing the president’s policies but not the man himself. “I like Obama,” he said, but thinks he lacks the experience to handle the job.

The O’Reilly Factor, which kicks off the network’s prime-time lineup, is Fox News’ most valuable advertising vehicle, a fact evident in O’Reilly’s salary, which is well north of $10 million a year, according to a person familiar with the terms. This year, he is on track to record his best ratings ever, averaging 3.7 million viewers, up 8 percent over 2009, according to Nielsen. His competitors lag far behind, with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann pulling 984,000 viewers on average and CNN’s Campbell Brown drawing 635,000.

O’Reilly, who studies the ratings every afternoon, said that despite his dominance, he never feels he can relax. But he acknowledged that his growing viewership lets him feel “that I have a responsibility to be a little more cautious, be a little more circumspect when I go after somebody to make sure we have everything covered. Because I can destroy lives. And I’m not going to do that until I’m 100 percent convinced that the person deserves what they get.”

O’Reilly’s on-air verbal assaults have been part of his trademark since the onetime correspondent for CBS and ABC joined the then-nascent Fox News Channel. With his elbows-out style and populist instincts, he beat out Larry King in 2002 as the most-watched cable news host, a title he has never relinquished.

“The dirty little secret of Bill’s show is people tune in who like him and people tune in who don’t like him,” said Bill Shine, executive vice president for programming.

And plenty still don’t. Liberal detractors such as Media Matters for America hammer at him daily, challenging his assertions. “I don’t think he’s changed,” said Ari Rabin-Havt, the group’s vice president of research and communications.

In the last year, however, Beck has replaced O’Reilly as the network’s lightning rod. While Beck’s denunciations of big government have made him a hero of the Tea Party movement, he has drawn sharp criticism for his dark warnings about Obama, particularly his claim that the president is “racist,” triggering an advertising boycott of his show organized by an African-American advocacy group.

O’Reilly said he doesn’t begrudge Beck the attention. “More power to him, man,” said O’Reilly, casually propping his foot up against the edge of his desk. “It takes the heat off me. I tell him, ‘Be as crazy as you want.’”

“I like Beck; I understand exactly what he’s doing,” he added. “He genuinely feels the country is in bad shape. I think guys like that deserve a voice.”

Beck has found a megaphone: His 4 p.m. show has averaged 2.8 million viewers this year, beating out Sean Hannity as the network’s second-most-watched host.

But O’Reilly said he’s not worried about the prospect of Beck overtaking him.

“What am I supposed to do, hate Glenn Beck because he’s successful?” he asked. “That’s what they do in Hollywood. I’m a New Yorker.”

Oh, now O’Reiley is a bad guy intrepid? Yes, I know it’s horrible when those who lean right have their own thought process and don’t bow down to the hysterical mass fear machine the rest of the clowns like to do such as Beck.

I suspect O’Reilly is trying to position himself differently, so he doesn’t come off as just another howling rightwing doomsday nut; Fox has plenty of those now, after all. So I’m not sure this change is totally sincere. Let’s not forget his earlier career as a silly tabloid reporter for A Current Affair. This wouldn’t be the first time he’s changed his persona. Nevertheless, I hope he does influence his watchers to be a bit more moderate. His notion that he has the power to “destroy lives” is grossly egotistical, but there is no question that all this fiery rhetoric on the Right could ignite a lot of very bad and potentially violent behavior. At least maybe he’s taking a bit of responsibility for that.

He sends people with cameras and microphones to harrass people in their front yards, on a bus, shopping, with their children. Not only that the man is a sexual predator. The thinnest kid in fat camp is still obese.

What you haters from the left don’t realize is that Bill O has always been independent. He has more common sense and is smarter than the average person, so of course he backs the right more than the left. It’s not that hard to understand why he is popular, if you have a brain that does more than take up space in your skull.

intrepid, you’re just jealous…the real windbags are Beck on Fox and Olberman and Maddow on MSNBC, none of which give their opposition any time for rebuttal or expression of their opinions which O’reilly does

O’Reilly has never been an over-the-top clown like Beck or Rush who just says stupid stuff to appeal to a stupid audience. He leans right, obviously, but he’s about as fair and balanced as you get on Fox. He seems like he’s a reasonable man.

Since we don’t watch CBS,NBC and ABC news in the evening, I watch the O’Reilly show. The above networks are so biased in their reporting that we gave them up several years ago. O’Reilly sometimes irritates me as he seems a know it all, but most of the time, he is honest in his beliefs, so it seems. I like him and feel like his show is fair and balanced.

I’ve followed O’Reilly for years – even read his books. He gets these types of write-ups often, but only when he appears to be criticizing conservatives. For example, where was this article when he criticized the democrat leadership for their unseemly attacks on Bush? On our troops in Iraq? On their lies about health car, torture, and the war in Iraq? Like John McCain, he gets good press when the press as a whole wants you to know what he is saying.

Actually O’Reilly and Beck recently toured together. O’Reilly is truly independent, as he has always been. The fact that the Commie-cal has just now realized that shows that they buy into the leftist spin that Fox News only has one viewpoint. On the contrary, Fox News is the only media outlet that allows all views to be heard.

I’ve been watching O’Reilly since the show started. He hasn’t changed one bit. He’s always been independent and he goes out of his way to be fair. But he does NOT pull any punches. People who make statements about his racism or right wing rants have not watched the show and it’s as simple as that. Their so-called opinions are based on the distortions and lies that they’ve been spoonfed by bitter media rivals who he has deservedly stomped in the ratings, and of course those liberals who are free speech champions until it’s from an opposing point of view.

I lean slightly left on most social issues,lean right on fiscal issues,lean far right on the War on Terror(yeah,that’s right I said it)and the use of the military and spy services to keep my country safe.I detest abortion but believe that is a woman’s choice and as a man I have no right to tell a woman what to do with her body. I do believe there needs to be social programs to help the needy get back on their feet.We need to balance the budget and control spending. Heck we could do that by just eliminating the incredible waste in our government. If a private company was run this way it would go broke in a week.And as for our military and our spy services….HOORAH.

I listen to the Factor on Sirius almost every night since I am working and I find O’Reilly to be the most reasonable voice on the air.Hannity on the other hand,annoys me to no end. Hannity couldn’t debate his way out of a paper bag. He has interesting and usually informative talking points but when he tries to debate he is ineffective so he just won’t let the other guy talk.

As for Barack Obama,he is an incompetent buffoon who is woefully unprepared for the job he now holds.

Give me a president like FDR,Truman,Kennedy,Eisenhower,Reagan or Bush Sr.

I know the first 3 were Dems but even with FDR’s social programs the security of the country came first for these great leaders.Heck at this point I would even take Bill Clinton and G W Bush over this moron who is in office now.Even if you disagreed with their political views at least those two had a clue.

do any of you who have made negative comments about Bill O’Reilly ever watch his show or really checked out his beliefs. He loved Bobby Kennedy and with that in mind has social views very similar to Bobby Kennedy. Fiscally he is conservative.

How can anyone state any opinion about this guy if you not had watched him or really read about him.

Bill O showed his bias when he tried to ruin a private corporation called Exxon with his big time spin on how they were ripping off Americans. There is “fair and balanced” and then there is uninformed prattle.

For all of those denouncing Beck why don’t you go back and look at some of the things he was saying back when he was on Headline News and see how right he has been about so many things from an economical respect. When someone is telling us things we don’t want to hear, even if they are true, our nature is to try and belittle them.

People who don’t watch Beck, and I assume that would be most who despise him, would know that he has not hurled “apocalyptic rhetoric about the Obama administration” only. He has been extremely critical of the Bush administrations economic policy. He rails against the big gov’t aparatus and how politicians have gotten to the point of only wanting to take whatever they can get from the fed gov’t for their districts or states to buy their re-election instead of what is best for the country overall.

Another question… what if Beck is right? Does nobody else see what is going on in Greece? Can you Beck haters please tell me where he has been so wrong on his economic forecasts?

I tend to agree with Hannity on a lot of things but I’m not a huge fan because he just spits out party talking points. Beck, on the other hand, has no party loyalty and does not let these weasly politicians get off easy with their generic answers to questions. He demands detail and those in power do not like it. If more people had demanded detail from Obama in the campaign then he might not have been elected due to his perception as being moderate.

To those who hate Beck, I would encourage you to watch him a little more with an open mind as opposed to listening to CNN play snippets of his show. He is a detailed guy and you will learn a lot from him. I also believe him to be a genuine guy but don’t know him personally. So, instead of attacking him why don’t you try to listen to what he is saying.

Bill has always been more independent than a conservative – that has been the key to his success. I think he genuinely likes Barak as a person though he disagress with his programs of turning this country into Denmark with 45% income taxes. I’d still rather have Bill who champions the greatness of America and its citizens rather than Olby who doesn’t even have a brain much less a heart.

Maybe O’Reilly isn’t becoming more moderate but it’s the rest of the Republican Party that is moving farther and farther to the extreme right?

When you have tea party activists who are spitting on Congressmen and screaming the “N-word” right outside the Capital building and you have the new darlings of the Republican Party like Michele Bachmann cheering them on, it’s not surprising that O’Reilly would look moderate. That whole episode reminded me of something out of 1950′s Little Rock Nine era. Disgraceful.

I’ve been watching O’Reilly since the show started. He hasn’t changed one bit. He’s always been independent and he goes out of his way to be fair. But he does NOT pull any punches. People who make statements about his racism or right wing rants have not watched the show and it’s as simple as that. Their so-called opinions are based on the distortions and lies that they’ve been spoonfed by bitter media rivals who he has deservedly stomped in the ratings, and of course those liberals who are free speech champions until it’s from an opposing point of view.

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The Boys Choir of Harlem sang at an event that O’Reilly moderated. Due to New York traffic they were late arriving. From the podium O’Reilly told the audience that he hoped they weren’t in the parking lot stealing their hub caps! Or when he noted after visiting a black restaurant in Halem that “not one person was screaming MF’er bring me my ice tea! I could go on FOREVER will illustrations of this mans racism but I have learned why bother. Most people defending him are racist! Not only is he a racist he is a liar! Ask the staffer he sexually harassed and payed the settlement to keep her out of court.

Wow,my above comments went off in a different direction.This was supposed to be about O’Reilly but I got carried away I do like Bill O’Reilly. I think he is the most level headed of all the commentators on the air. I have tried all of the stations and I have found he is the most fair and balanced in his commentary and reporting.Hannity is nothing but a mouth piece for the right and Beck is nothing more than an entertainer who uses fear to achieve his goals.Years ago I thought O’Reilly to be an arrogant blowhard and then I realized I had really never watched him. Well I was wrong.He makes the most sense of anyone on TV.

you mean he is trying to make points without name-calling and exaggerated portrayals of the future of the US? what a shame!

the problem with the hannitys and limbaughs and becks of the world is that they (a) state opinions as facts, ignoring the other side of the arguments; (b) dramatize the psuedo-facts to seem more egregious; and finally (c) draw out the psuedo-factual situations to ridiculous conclusions fraught with hyperbole.

O’Reilly urged a national conference of conservatives to refrain from personal attacks on President Obama. He noted that employing fear in politics is a “double-edged sword” that “can lead to violence and heartbreak.”

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O’Reilly is right to try an tone down the hate

being tossed out over the air ways these days

by Rush,Glenn,Palin and the like. History reflects

this fact. Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh referred to Democrates as (bastards) and called for the removal of all Democrates from America. Well, Hitler use the same tactics leading to the extermination of over 6 million Jews, Poles, and those that he deemed inferior to the Arian race.

O’Reilly is not one of my favorite talk show host, but I have to admire him in calling for moderation.